Digital Warfare
by Nomechan
Summary: Slightly AU: The eight chosen children are living their lives as normal teens, but after a terrible accident involving one of their dearest friends, they receive a mysterios SOS and return to the Digital World only to discover it in chaos that threatens tbe Digital World and the Real World. The eight chosen children must join the battle once more to protect those whom they love.
1. Prologue

Hi there! Well, this is my attempt to write Digimon FanFiction. I hope you like it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own digimon characters. The only elements of my property are Original Characters and plot.

* * *

Prologue

The smell of fear…the sound of desperation.

The land laid destroyed. The digital world was no longer exuberant and beautiful.

The forest were burnt, the cities turned to dust. All that was left was the shadow of what was a beautiful land once.

A girl wearing a long white cloak run through the scorched fields. She was being chased by a pack of blackened Boarmon. She was running fast, but the boarmon were too fast,

She reached the end of the path: a cliff and dead end. The girl turned to face her pursuers and clenched her fists.

How had it come to this? She had no idea if her comrades were alive, the darkness was was harder to contain than what she'd expected, but she couldn't give up. There were still people that depended of her.

"There's no scape…." A soft voice whispered with coldness." You're partner is not here…you don't stand a chance."

The girl stared at the owner of the voice. It was another girl with a black cloak and a mask the hid her expression. She walked between the Boarmon calmly and looked straight at the one standing at the edge of the cliff.

"You can't run away now. You could give up and die here…it'd be easier than trying fight back. Perhaps, I'll be kind enough to make it quick. "

"As if I'd give up …" she replied stepping back a little.

"Is there another way?" the black cloaked asked with amusement in her voice "I don't see anything that could help you know.

"Sometimes, you don't need to see a way for it to exist. "the girl replied simply " It's a matter of…believing it exists"

The girl looked at the other sadly and without further words she jumped off the cliff as a blinding light began spreading from her chest and enveloping her body as she fell into an abyss of darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

Hi there! Well, this is my attempt to write Digimon FanFiction. I hope you like it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own digimon characters. The only elements of my property are Original Characters and plot.

* * *

Chapter I : Calling

PRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNN!

The loud tingling of the alarm clock almost made the girl fell of her bed. She lazily pulled away the comforter and stretched her hand to silence the noisy alarm. She raised from her bed and stared at the immutable bulge sleeping in the lower bed.

"Niii-saaan…" she said with a soft yawn. "Wake up, niii-san. We'll be late for school."

The bulge trembled a little.

"Just 5 more minutes…."

"No, Nii-san." The girl replied a little firmer " You can't be late again on the first day. Get up!"

The thin girl shook him until a bush of thick brown hair appeared between the covers. The boy got up lazily. His eyes were still lightly shut.

" I'm awake now…" he mumbled " No need to be so stern, Hikari"

"Oh, no you're not yet." the younger girl giggled. " I'll go get ready and prepare breakfast, so you better be up and going, nii-san" she picked up her school uniform and headed outside the room.

It was a pretty day of spring. The sun shone brightly and the breeze was fresh; it was, to say, the perfect day to start school.

Hikari began to prepare breakfast enthusiastically. Their father was gone in a work trip, and their mother had left for a couple days to visit some familiars in other city. That left her and her brother alone in the house, and she knew that it was up to her to keep the routine steady. Her brother was never much into the house chores.

Her mobile phone began ringing as she served the table announcing a new message. She picked it up and a smile was drawn on her lips.

 _Good morning!_

 _Sorry I didn't reply last night. I had no signal in the way back to Odaiba._

 _-T-_

Hikari shook her head. It was usual in Takeru to feel guilty whenever he replied her messages late. It'd been like that since they were younger, and even now, he remained the same.

 _Good morning silly!_

 _It's okay. I kind of figured it was like that. How was the trip?_

 _-H-_

She left the phone on the table and turned on the news. 8Taichi came out from the room fully dresses and with a evident lazy look in his face. He left his bag by the entrance and sat at the table.

"Nice, it almost looks as mom's cooking."

"You can't tell unless you eat it though "she replied checking her phone once more.

"Oi, isn't it too early to be texting around?"

"Mmm…not really" She replied typing in her phone.

"Let me guess who it is… starts with a T and ends with -akeru" Taichi said biting a piece of toast.

"Yeah, he came back from his family trip last night. He was just apologizing for not replying me yesterday… isn't he cute?"

"Yeah …cute. You two really grew to be friends. Who would have thought of it…"

"Well, you're one to say. Must be a family thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, isn't Yamato-kun, your best friend?"

"Who said that guy is my best…"

His last comment was interrupted by the news reporter voice.

"…the accident took place at 7 pm last night. According to the victim's family, Ueda Sachiko was heading home from cram school when she was hit by a car. The driver assured that he did as he could to stp the car, but it was too late and the impact was unavoidable. According to witnesses, Ueda stopped in the middle of the street just as the car was passing by. The medics have claimed that she is in critical condition…"

"Another one…?" Taichi muttered "It's the third in two days."Taichi said staring at the T.V worried " Hikari, be careful when you come back from school today. "

"You don't actually think I'll get hit by a car, do you?" the girl chuckled. It was somehow amusing that her brother would always think she could get hurt by anything.

"Well, one never knows…." Taichi replied looking at his sister seriously "Just promise me you'll be careful"

"I will…"

"May be I should ask Takeru to take care of you though." Taichi said in a teasing voice earning and elbow from his sister.

"Hurry up and finish eating, would you?" Hikari replied pouting while she washed her plate.

"Hit the nail, didn't I? "

"Brother…"

Taichi burst into a laugh.

"All right, all right…."

"I´ll head out first. See you later, brother"

Before Taichi could say anything to her, Hikari had already walked out the door and headed to school. She'd get her payback on her brother later. Contrary to her brother, she wasn't very fond of getting late on her very first day.

The morning breeze felt good as she rode her bike to school. It was spring time and the flower buds in the cherry trees were yet to bloom, but judging by the number, when they did it'd be a beautiful picture. Hikari stopped her bike at the road side and looked up trying to remember how it'd been in other years…

 _…_ _Hikari…._

Hikari's snapped out of her thoughts and looked around. She was sure she'd heard someone calling out for her, but she found no one around her. A sudden shudder ran down her spine and she rubbed her arms feeling suddenly cold.

"Uhm…that's weird." She muttered.

"Uhm? What is weird?" someone whispered in her ear causing her to give a small jump.

A tall blond boy stood behind her. He was wearing the same green uniform from her school and he was grinning amused.

"Takeru! Don't do that, you scared me" she said trying to sound annoyed.

The boy tilted his head and a smile curved in his lips.

"Sorry. Thought I'll give you a surprise. You looked so focused that I just couldn't help it. What were you watching?"

"I…the flower buds" she replied pushing away that weird feeling from her mind. " We'll have a beautiful bloom this year…"

"Oh…" Takeru replied looking up at the trees. "Yeah…there are a lot of buds this year, aren't there? How about we come to watch the flowers with everyone when they bloom?"

"Yeah…."

The blond looked at his friend, a sudden hint of worry was shown in his eyes.

"Hikari ?".

"Oh! We should hurry. We'll be late…" Hikari said coming out from her thoughts "How was your family trip by the way?"

"Uhm? It wasn't bad, how about you? Did you do anything fun while I wasn't here?"

"Uhmmm…." she said mysteriously "I might have gone in a couple dates, you know?"

"Eh? Dates?" Takeru replied puzzled "With whom?"

Hikari left out a small chuckle.

"I'm just teasing you. I didn't do anything besides making sure my brother didn't get into trouble with our parents out"

"Seems like you were busy."

"May be a little…"

They walked together into the school fields and, after checking the class lists, theywere glad to find that they'd been put in the same class.

"Seems like we'll be classmates again. " Takeru smiled as the headed to the classroom.

"Uhm…so it seems. Can't say I'm not happy about it." Hikari smiled.

The rest of the day went off in a blur. There were a couple of times in which Hikari felt odd; it was a feeling she couldn't explain nor understand. However, she quickly dismissed the thought. It was probably just her imagination after all.

As the day passed, she was getting more and more drowsy. She wasn't supposed to fall sleep in class on her very first day, but she couldn't help it. Her eyelids felt heavy. I was strange since she had sleep enough the night before.

 _Hikari…_

 _Who is this? Who's calling me?_

 _Hikari…h…l…e…._

"Hikari…"

"Uh?"

Someone was shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes and found a very troubled Takeru staring down at her.

"Hikari…class ended a while ago. It's time to go home." He said. She could see the concern reflecting in his blue orbs.

"Oh….yeah. Sorry, it seems I fell asleep."

"Are you…are you okay? I mean…you're not feeling ill or anything….are you?

"Uh?" Hikari shook her head and smiled at him "I think I just got a little sleepy, that's all. Don't worry. I guess I am my brother's sister after all "

Takeru chuckled.

"Sleeping in class does sound like something Taichi would do. C'mon, want to go for ice cream before heading home?"

"Ice cream sounds good"

They both walked down the stairs together. Takeru kept looking at her with concern. Even if she said she was ok, he could tell something wasn't right with Hikari. He knew her well enough to see through her facade.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked softly.

"You almost sound like my brother. I'm alright" she smiled, but he didn't buy it.

There was something not quite right behind that smile, but he couldn't get it. The icec ream shop was quite crowded with students, so he offered to go buy the ice creams while Hikari waited outside. She didn't complain and stood down waiting for him outside.

Takeru was worried about her. She knew it, and she felt bad for making him worry like that, but she wasn't lying when she said was fine. She wasn't sick, she just felt odd.

Hikaru left out a soft sigh and then it happened. A thick fog began to surround her. It was strange, fog wasn't a usual thing in spring, or at least that was what she thought, but this was definitely fog. Was she imagining all again? Could it be that her mind was playing tricks on her?

 _Hikari!_

She turned around automatically. She knew that voice. She'd heard it many times before.

"Tailmon!" she whispered as she turned around.

There she was, her digimon partner stood some steps away from her. Her tiny body and lively eyes were looking at her with a pained look.

"Tailmon…h-how?"

"Hikari, help me!"

Hikari saw how the body of her dear Tailmon began to fade into the fog, and panic flickered in her heart instantly. She dropped her bag and ran to the small digimon in a desperate attempt and then, she simply lost it. Everything turned black and she felt herself fall into darkness.


	3. Chapter 2

Hi there! Well, this is my attempt to write Digimon FanFiction. I hope you like it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own digimon characters. The only elements of my property are Original Characters and plot.

* * *

Chapter 2: Beginning

The last thing he could remember was the loud crash he heard when he left the shop. Takeru stood shocked as he saw his friend drop her bag and run straight to the street. Before he could do anything to stop her…it happened.

The crash and the screams almost made his heart jump out of his chest. When he finally came out from his shock, he saw that people were beginning to gather in the middle of the street. It couldn't be. It had to be a joke.

He ran off to the street pushing his way through crowd and he saw it. Hikari was lying on the ground unconscious. A thread of blood ran down from her head. The driver was desperately calling for an ambulance with his mobile phone, but Takeru was way to worry to pay attention to what he was saying .

He knelt right next to Hikari's unconscious body not knowing what to do.

"Hikari….answer me Hikari!" he mumbled "You can't…wake up, Hikari. It isn't funny…please, wake up!"

But the girl didn't answer and he was suddenly filled with fear. The ambulance arrived some minutes later. He was still in shock when they reached the hospital. He heard the doctors asking him something, but he couldn't answer. He could only look blankly at the floor.

What if she didn't woke up? What if she was…?

"HIKARI!" the loud scream broke the silence of the corridor and made Takeru raise his head. Taichi was running desperately to the emergency door followed by a very pale Sora, his own brother Yamato and Kourshiro.

"Taichi, please! You need to calm down!" Sora cried.

"HOW CAN I BE CALM? MY SISTER WAS HIT BY A CAR AND NO ONE IS TELLING ME ANYTHING. WOULD YOU BE CALM IF YOU WERE IN MY PLACE? HIKARI…SHE ….SHE COULD…"

"Taichi, yelling around the hospital won't give us any information of Hikari's current state. We need to stay calm" Koushirosaid , but he was pale and his voice trembled a little.

"Takeru…" Yamato said turning to his brother. The younger blonde sat miserably on the waiting bench. He knew they'd ask him what happened, but how could he ask what happened if not even him understood.

"I know…you want to know what happened" he replied trying to keep himself calm "I …I don't know what happened. I went to buy us ice cream. She just stood out of the shop for a second, and then, she…" his voice began to tremble. He didn't want to relive all that.

He had seen it. The way the car had hit the brunette's slim body. How her body had flown before hitting the floor. The crash sound and yells…the blood. A hand posed kindly on his shoulder, Yamato shook his head and Takeru was grateful that they didn't make him tell. He knew he'd have to do it, eventually, but right now, he couldn't. He simply couldn't.

"DAMN…" Taichi cried out hitting the wall. "I told her….I told her this morning, I told her to be careful…!"

"Taichi…."

"She can't die! She can't!" Taichi cried out. His usual easygoing look was totally gone. Replaced by fear and panic.

Takeru lowered his face once more. It was his fault. He shouldn't have left her, if something happened to her…he'd never forgive himself.

The emergency doors finally opened and a doctor wearing a surgery uniform walked to them.

"Sir…my sister…how is she?" Taichi asked trying to control his feelings as best as he could.

Takeru raised his look and stared at the doctor holding his breath.

"She sustained some severe intern injuries. We managed to fix most of them, however, we can't say she's entirely out of danger. We'll keep her in intensive care for a few days."

Taichi's eyes fell to the ground. His eyes reflected how heartbroken he was. His baby sister was everything to him. It'd always been like that since he they'd been children. He had made a promise to himself since that day in which he almost lost her to his carelessness, but now it was as if he was breaking it.

The doctor bowed to them and walked away silently. Sora put a hand on Taichi's shoulder trying to give him some support; Yamato did the same, but he didn't know what to say. No one said anything for five long minutes. The silence in the room was almost deadly.

"It was her first day of school…." Taichi whispered "She was so excited about it. She…she wanted to go back and see everyone again. She even told me we should all go to the Digital world to have a picnic together like old times…."

No one said nothing. May be they felt that Taichi needed to let it out, or maybe everyone found too painful to say anything at all.

"Taichi…I'm sure she'll recover. We need to have hope…" Sora said quietly putting his hand on the boys shoulder.

Hope.

Takeru clenched his fists. Hope was all they could do for her now.

Koushiro was sitting in his office checking something in his computer; he had kept regular vigilance over the Digital World for quite a while now, and he was glad to see that everything looked in order; he'd been having a weird feeling the few last days, and Tentomon's delay with news wasn't helping to ease his anxiety.

"Where are you Tentomon? It's not like you to report late…" the muttering rubbing his head.

A lot of things had happened in recent days and everyone seemed restless; Hikari's accident had been a big hit for the group. Taichi spent most of his free time in the hospital, and he seemed to have lost his usual cockiness. Takeru was pretty much the same, he still smiled, but his smile lacked the usual spark of life. Jyou made regular trips to the hospital, too, he made sure to keep track about Hikari's condition. His father worked in the same hospital after all. The rest of them were all worried, and tried to visit as much as they could, hoping to receive good news, however, those had yet to come.

The red head got up and poured himself a cup of water, when a soft beeping sound made him rush to his computer. He looked at the screen and his eyes when wide.

Takeru entered the room quietly. Taichi was deep asleep with his head laying on the edge of the bed. His hand was firm laced with her sister's.

The blonde closed the door as quiet as he could. He didn't want to wake Taichi, he wasn´t getting enough sleep and he needed it. Takeru looked at his friends sleeping face in silence. It had been four weeks after the accident. Hikari's injury had practically healed, but she had yet to wake up.

"I…I'm sorry Taichi…." Takeru whispered. He looked almost as helpless as the elder boy " I… had promised you before I'd take care of her whenever you were not around, but…."

The youngest boy sat quietly on the other chair, he grabbed the girl's free hand and stared at her sleeping face.

"Hikari…how much longer will you sleep?" he mumbled "Everyone is so worried. You should wake up soon."

A soft groan made Takeru look up. Taichi had woken up; he raised his head and rubbed his face tiredly.

"Oh…Takeru…"Taichi yawned as he smiled weakly. "You're here early…."

"I didn't have practice today, and well…I thought I could come a visit."

"You know I don´t mind you coming. If Hikari was awake…she'd probably ask for you every day." He replied matter of factly "So…how's school doing?"

"It's…fine, I guess " the blonde replied lowering his shoulders " it's much busier than middle school, but that's not a bad thing…."

"I see. I hope Hikari wakes up soon. She wouldn't want to miss a year, would she? "

The blonde was about to comment about what Taichi had just said when a beeping made both them jump.

"It's a mail from Koushiro…" Taichi said as he opened his phone to read the message. His eyes widened in shock. " He's calling us to a meeting in his office. It seems urgent…"

Takeru nodded and looked at the girl's motionless shape.

"Well be back soon, Hikari. I promised…"


	4. Chapter 3

Hi there! Well, this is my attempt to write Digimon FanFiction. I hope you like it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own digimon characters. The only elements of my property are Original Characters and plot.

* * *

Chapter 3: S.O.S

Koushiro walked back and forth in his office. He had sent messages to all of his friends and was only waiting for their arrival. The red icon in his computer screen kept blinking as a reminder of his worries.

It wasn't long when the ring of his door woke him from his thoughts; the rest of the former digidestined entered the room with very concerned looks.

"Koushiro…we came as soon as we could. What happened?" Sora said.

"Yeah, what's this urgent thing?" Taichi said tilting his head. The boy seemed tired and Koushiro could tell he would rather be by his sister's side.

"I'll explain" he replied sitting in front of the computer " I was checking the Digital World status as usual when I received this message. It's a SOS call. "

"And SOS? Could it…could it be that it is from Gabumon and the other digimon?" Yamato asked.

"That's what I first thought. Tentomon hasn't reported and I found that strange, so I decided to check again and I realized something…"

Koushiro proyected a tridimensional map in the larger screen so that the others could see.

"See the red spot in here?" he said pointing at the screen "It is new. "

"New?" Jyou asked "You mean that it is a new place in the digital world or something like that?"

"Yes…or so it seems" Koushiro replied "I used this software to trace the SOS message point of origin, and well it certainly comes from somewhere located in this red spot. However, I can't seem to find any data about it. I was hoping to contact Tentomon and ask him what was happening in the Digital World, but I haven't been able to contact any of our digimon"

"Then …they must be in trouble!" Mimi cried "My poor Palmon! Let's hurry there!"

"I guess Mimi is right. We should go check, right?" Taichi said. "Let's go…"

"Wait…Taichi, maybe we shouldn´t yet" Koushiro said.

"What do you mean? You did say it was urgent. "

"Well…I did, but... this is an unknown place, and rushing into it without a plan sounds…dangerous"

"I'm with Koushiro in this" Jyou said crossing his arms "Let's think this over before acting."

"How can a new place appear over night?" Takeru asked looking at the screen "Is that even possible?"

"It's hard to say…." Koushiro said staring at the screen "It might be hard, but it's not impossible. The digital world is basically made of computer data, if a new data code was written I gues it wouldn't be impossible. Never the less…"

"What is it?"

"It may not be exactly something _new_. We did say that the digital world has many layers which are separated by different barriers, what if…what if this new spot is a piece of one of those world overlapping the digital world we know…?"

Takeru eyes were wide. For a brief second he remember the dark world he had once visited, and the idea of it possibly overlapping with the digital world sent shivers down his spine.

"Then what should we do?" Sora whispered "We won't know unless we go, but if we go carelessly, it'd be really dangerous"

"If only we could contact someone in the digital world…." Koushiro sighed as he typed.

"Well, it can't be helped. We must come to a decision on our own."Yamato replied standing up and looking at the screen "How about we split…two of us can go scout first."

"Wait…we are forgetting something important here…" Jyou interrupted " If we can't contact our digimon, how are we supposed to defend ourselves in there?"

Jyou was right. Without the digimon they were pretty much useless.

"Let's try contacting the digimon first…"Sora said "I'm sure of we try we'll definitely reach them "

"All, right…then we'll do that and then we'll take a decision "Taichi said getting up " Koushiro, keep an eye on that spot and tells us if anything happens…or if you get another SOS, will you?"

"Okay, I will…eh…Taichi?"

"Yeah?"

"How….How is she?" the boy asked shyly and the rest were suddenly quiet. They knew the topic was still a little sensible for Taichi, and they didn't want to make him snap.

"She's….all right, I guess. If only she'd wake up…"he mumbled as a reply.

Everyone in the room looked at each other sadly. Takeru clenched his fists and say nothing, even when his thoughts were pretty much the same as Taichi's.

Darkness was advancing quickly. A thin figure covered in a white cloak ran through the forest in rush. Her face was fully covered by a hood.

"It's getting closer…" she whispered looking back for a second "That's not good…I never thought they'd catch up so soon and the others are not here, yet."

A gust of wind blew her cape and she had to hold on to it to prevent it from flying away. The girl looked up to the sky, it was getting darker and darker.

Suddenly, a bolt of dark light hit the ground missing the girl by only a few inches and making her fly a short distance with the explosion. She raised up with groan of pain, her hand automatically grabbing her left shoulder.

"Still running away? I never thought the servant of Ophanim could be so weak" a voice mocked.

A black masked girl stood on the head of Grimmon. Her arms folded over her chest and a her lips curved in a mischievous smile.

"You thought you'd escaped from us when you fell from that cliff, didn't you? We are not easy to fool"

"Could have fooled me…" she sighed.

"Warrior of the Light of Ophanim…prepare for your death"

Grimmon began charging its energy beam. This time, the probability of it missing or dodging it was practically zero.

The girl flinched and began running again. Without her digimon, she was in an evident disadvantage; she needed to reunite with her partner as soon as possible to fight.

"Running away again, aren't we?" the black dressed girl laughed "If you ask for mercy I might consider going easy on you!"

"As if…I'll ever do such a thing"

The girl in white robes stopped on her tracks making a full spin. She placed her hands over her chest and whispered a word. A brilliant and pinkish light surrounded her tracing a symbol around her: a six pointed star.

"Please, you think your _light_ , will beat us?" the black girl mocked.

"Who said I was aiming to beat you with _my_ light?"

"Wha…t?"

Before the masked girl could finish her question, a rain of arrows of light fell over them, causing Grimmon to complain of pain and throw it's rider.

"Just in time!" the girl in white smiled.

"Hikari! Are you all right?" Angewomon said flying down to her partner.

"I'm all right; but I'm certainly delayed. Angewomon can you win me some time?"

"Leave it to me and hurry."

Hikari turned around and ran as fast as she could.

"Hikari…?!"

Takeru's eyes snapped open; his face was all covered in sweat and his heart pounded hardly against his chest. It'd been a dream; only a dream.

"Of course. Hikari is in the hospital…" the blonde muttered to himself even when the thought made gave him a sting of pain.

Takeru rubbed his face and got himself out of bed. It'd been a long night and he had barely slept between trying to contact Patamon and bad dreams. His efforts to talk to his digimon had been fruitless, it was as Koushiro had said, and something seemed to prevent the message to go through.

It was Saturday, usually he'd go out and play basketball at the park or visit his brother for a "men afternoon", however, that Saturday the plan was different. Taichi had a soccer match and he had asked him if he could replace him in the hospital. Hikari would be having some tests and with his father out working and his mother taking care of his ill grandmother, there was no one to stay in his place. Takeru didn't mind, he was planning on visiting anyway.

"You're up early, Takeru" Natsuko said when his son left his room to grave a piece of toast. She was sitting in front of her lapto with a mug of coffee.

"Yeah, I have to go to the hospital…" he replied "working on a new article?"

"Yes…" she replied typing "It's about the recent accidents actually. People are driving more and more recklessly these days…"

"Y-yeah…" he said " I have to go, mom. I'll see you later"

Takeru rushed out of the apartment and headed to the hospital. The day was nice: sunny but fresh. It was perfect weather for a match, Taichi had luck; he better won that match, or he'd have no excuses otherwise.

When he arrived to the hospital room, someone had opened the windows letting the breeze and the sun caress the sleeping girl's skin.

"Hey, Hikari…" he whispered sitting down at the chair beside the bed "You're looking well today. I supposed that you're wondering where's Taichi. Did he tell you about his match? He probably forgot."

He picked her hand and stared at it for a while.

"Seems like it'd be you and me, today. Like old times, right?"

Takeru began to say some casual chitchat, silly stories about school, Yamato's concerts, or Taichi's jokes. It'd become a habit now, he wasn't sure if she could listen at all, but the doctors had said that it was good to talk to her. Sometimes it made him feel bad that his listener was unable to speak, but he kept hoping that maybe one of those days, he'd hear her voice again. Hoping was his virtue after all, and he knew well enough, that as long as he kept that alive good things would come.

The doctors and nurses came in and out of the room many times during the morning: taking blood samples and other tests. Takeru wondered if Hikari would find this normal if she was awake. He knew that the girl's health was quite fragile, and that she was in the hospital for regular checkups during the year; but he had never asked what kind of checkups.

"I've been trying to contact Patamon, you know? Remember that Taichi and I left in a rush yesterday? Well, Koushiro called us. He said he received a SOS message from somewhere in the Digital World, and we thought it might have been from one of our friends, however we haven't been able to contact any of them…"

The boy tucked some hair way from her face.

"This is almost like when we were kids. Me taking care of you instead of Taichi. It is funny, isn't it? Back then I'd promised Taichi that I'd take care of you…" the boy sighed. If he had done that properly, she wouldn't be in the current state, though. "Hikari…I…"

Takeru's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud beeping. He picked his mobile phone to check the message; it was probably Taichi asking about Hikari, but when the blonde read the message, he was filled with a mix of shock and cluelessness.

The sender's info was empty, no number or email address, and the message was just weird. It didn't seem to have any meaning, but a group of random letters. The only word that made any sense was the last one as it read: TAKERU.

Then he thought of something. What if it was a message from Patamon? May be his attempts had actually worked, and the digimon was trying to contact him.

The boy read the message over and over, but no matter how much thought he put on it, he couldn't find any sense on it. Perhaps Koushiro could find the meaning behind a bunch of random numbers and letters, he'd have to try later, but for the time being, he'll just watch over his friend.

It was dark, and the air smelled like moss and dampness. The tunnel was slippery, and Hikari had to move slowly. She could hear the battle taking place over her head and prayed that Angewomon would be all right; no matter how much she wished to be updater fightning at her side, she knew there was a task that she had to fulfill.

The darkness was dense and she was practically moving through the rocky walls blindly. She knew it was close, she could feel it, but couldn't see it. However, she _knew_ she had to find it no matter what it took. Nevertheless, she couldn't avoid how she was starting to feel: a mix of fear, impotence and despair.

"It's the darkness trying to take over me…" she said to herself "You must not, Hikari. You must not think…"

She kept repeating those words to herself as her own personal mantra. It was the only thing that prevented her to lose her focus. After some minutes, that almost felt like hours, of walking in the dark, the brunette noticed a warm sensation in her chest and she knew she'd found it.


	5. Chapter 4

Hello! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Here's update 4. Don't forget to review!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON

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Chapter 4: Return

"Did you manage to decipher the message I got, Koushiro?" Takeru asked.

"Unfortunately no. I tried tracking it, but I can't say who the sender might be…"

"So we can't tell if it was sent by Patamon after all." Taichi said. "I think we should go and take a look. We haven't been able to contact the digimon, and that worries me. "

It had been two days since the SOS message, and the six digidestined were reunited in Koushiros office discussing the course of action. There hadn't been any signs of their digital partners, and that was making all of them feel uneasy.

"Taichi is right. I believe we should go, as well" Yamato added crossing his arms over his chests. His face seriously reflected the concern he was feeling about Gabumon.

"But we can't go without a plan…" Sora said "Especially if it's an unknown area. What if it's dangerous?"

"Sora is absolutely right" Jyou said crossing his arms "with the current situation and without digimon, we can't run recklessly into an unfamiliar place. Besides, are we even capable to go? Last time our digivices weren't capable of opening a gate…"

"I believe so. "Koushiro replied "I've been checking regularly the gates since we received the message. It seems that most of the times the gates remain shut, however there's a time in which it'd open. If we enter during that time, we shouldn't have problems accessing the digital world"

"Count me in…" Takeru nodded.

"Well it's been decided " Taichi nodded "Koushiro, when does the gate opens? "

"Around 3 pm, if my calculations are correct; then it'd be closed until 7 pm. That's our time limit to comeback if we want to make it out today."

"That would be 2 hours from now." Sora commented.

"Guess we should use this time to properly prepare…"Jyou suggested as he began listing with his fingers "food, water, first aid kit…."

"Well, we can leave that to you, Jyou. You're the expert in here" Taichi said with his typical smile " I'll go to the hospital for a bit. I need to check on Hikari before I leave."

"Then I'll go with you!" Takeru said.

"Should we tell Mimi?" Sora asked "Even if she is in America and all…she should be able to come, no?"

" I think we should wait. The timelines may not match with our gates opening so I'd like to get a better perspective of it before we ask her to come"

"Ok, you do that Koushiro. Takeru and I will pass by the hospital, Jyou will do the shopping; Sora and Yamato can stay here to help you with whatever you need. Well meet here a 2:30 pm. Sounds good?"

"All right, Taichi " Sora nodded.

Taichi and Takeru left the office together. It had become a habit to walk together since the last couple days due to both's usual visits to the hospital. Their walks were usually accompanied by casual chitchatting, but they'd usually end with a reference to the younger Yagami and then the talking would end. Not because there was nothing to say, but rather because both boys will fall into their own thoughts.

"How did the test results come?" the blonde asked after one of those silent pauses.

"All normal "the oldest replied putting his hands in his pockets "I mean, normal for her. You know that she had some health issues and all; but fortunately, the doctors said that there was no sign of alarm. The injuries from the accident are healing well, and she doesn't seem to have any sort of brain damage…"

"But she won't wake up…" the blonde mumbled.

"She won't wake up…" Taichi repeated distracted "the doctors said that it is as if she was sleeping. The tests showed normal brain activi. I guess we all need to be patient and …well, wait."

The blonde nodded quietly. The stood waiting for the red light to change, and Takeru looked around. This was the place of the accident. The ice cream shop was only a few meters from where they stood; up until now, the boy still couldn't understand how it'd happened.

Some of the witnesses had said that Hikari had jumped purposefully in front of the vehicle, but they knew her well enough to know that she would never do such a thing. Hikari's accident became one of the many recurring incidents around Tokyo, and a rumor began to spread that some sort of curse caused teens to suddenly stand in front of moving cars. It was silly, but he had to admit that the coincidence was somehow strange.

"At least she's well. Hikari is a strong girl, so I'm sure she'll wake up soon enough…" Taichi sighed " let's hurry. We need to get to Koushiro's office on time"

"Ok…is everyone ready?" Koushiro asked.

"Yeah, on your sign, Koushiro." Sora smiled.

"All right. Everyone, please raise your digivices…"

The six digidestined raised their digivices as the countdown in Koushiro's screen reached zero. Ah bright golden light spread from the screen engulfing them and the six children were sucked in a blink. When the light faded they found themselves standing in what looked like some sort of moor, but unlike the digital world they were used to, the place had some eerie feeling.

"Is it here, Koushiro?" Yamato asked looking around.

"Yes, the S.O.S signal was sent from this location…" he replied checking his laptop.

"I don't see anything around…though…" Sora said worried.

Right after Sora's statement there was a loud crash followed by the flash of mixed black and pink lightining that filled the sky.

"What the …?" Taichi cried out.

The massive body a black winged digimon overflew them followed by a much smaller pinkish glow.

"That's….Grimmon!" Koushiro snapped out.

"It seems to be fighting against something!" Takeru said. The pinkish glow was strangely familiar.

"OOOH!" Jyou cried out "It's Angewomon!"

The six digidestined let out a shocked grunt.

"Does…that mean…" Sora muttered " Is it Tailmon? But….how? She wouldn't evolve without Hikari, right?"

Takeru looked at Taichi. He could tell that he, too, was thinking the same. Was this Angewomon the one they knew? If s0, how had she managed to evolve to perfect without her partner and the crest of light?

"Ah…what a surprise. So it seems we have got some interesting visitors…" A female voice made them wake up from their shock.

A girl wearing a black mask and gown stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Who are you?" Yamato snapped.

" Oh…? What if I don't want to tell you?"

" Are you the one who sent us that S.O.S message?" Koushiro asked.

"SOS? Oh…so _she_ was that desperate to call upon her friends after all." The woman smirked " Then may be we should have some fun with you after all…"

The woman flicked her fingers and a mass of black orbs appeared around her. She let out a soft laugh and flickered her fingers once more. The orbs flew aggressively against them, but before any of them could touch them. A white blur passed right in front of them making the orbs disintegrate.

" Ah…that was quick!" the woman laughed amused " but seems like you're pushing your limits…"

The six digidetined stared in surprised at the person that stood in front of them. She was wearing a long white cap with a hood that prevented them from seeing her face.

"Must be hard without a physical form after all, server of Ophanim. You shouldn't have wasted that last ray of light protecting them…"

"I appreciate your thoughts, however, what makes you think that it was the last?"

Takeru's heart sank. He knew that voice too well, but he couldn't believe, or he didn't dare. He looked at Taichi who stood close to him. The color had drained his face and he knew that the oldest Yagami was thinking the same thing as he did.

"H…Hikari?" Taichi said softly causing everyone to look at him in disbelief.

The white caped person turned to them slowly and pulled down her hood revealing the pale face of the youngest Yagami.

"Brother…" she said. The visible joy and relief brightly reflected on her look as she stared at her friends and finally stopped at Takeru.

"Oh, so touching. I almost feel bad to interrupt, but you still have something I want Ophanim."

Hikari turned abruptly to face the masked woman and glared.

"It doesn't belong to you and it'll never will" she said firmly.

"Well be seeing that…Grimmon!"

The black digimon raised his cannons on their direction.

"OH NO YOU WON'T YOU UGLY OLD HAG!"

Out of sudden a girl with cooper hair waved a sword like weapon at the black masked woman. She barely dodge it in time.

"Glad I made it on time! Antylomon! Go help angewomon with our ugly faced dragon, should you?"

"Leave it to" the rabbit like digimon replied as he rushed to fight Grimmon.

"Cherubin?"

"Didn't count with me joining, did we?" the cooper haired said with a smirk " You should know better. The triad fight together all the time…or didn't your jerky lead tell you that?"

The masked woman grunted.

"Seems like we'll leave our duel for another time, Ophanim. Grimmon, time to leave!"

With that the masked woman vanished into thin air.

"Ah…what a bad attitude has this one. Ah Antylomon…sorry. Seems like you missed the fun after all."

"Fun or not, the important thing is that we managed to stop them" the rabit digimon replied "Tailmon's injuries aren't too bad, so we may call this battle our win."

"Ahhh….it was close though! Everything ok?" the girl turned to Hikari who was holding Tailmon and checking her injuries.

"Yes, her injuries are minor" Hikari replied relieved.

"Well, that's good. You freaked me out when you sent that SOS out of sudden geez, but it seems I wasn't the only one who answered it." The girl replied turning to speechless group of digidestined. Most of them were still too shocked to react.

Taichi was the first one to react. He shook his head and ran straight to his sister catching her in a tight embrace; gesture that was soon followed by Takeru and the rest of the gang.

"I don't….I don't understand!" Taichi said dryly "You're in the hospital….you….how can you be here?"

"Brother…I know…it…it is hard to explain…" Hikari replied softly.

"We have time…I want…no, we need to know…."

Takeru felt almost as relieved as Taichi. He was happy to see her standing and awake again, even when he couldn't understand how it was possible.

"Silly….you…you had no idea how worried I was!"

"Brother…" she whispered stepping back from him, but before Hikari could add anything, the oldest Yagami let out a surprised groan grabbing his shoulder. His face contorted in a slight look of pain that lasted a couple minutes.

"What the…?"

"Taichi!" Sora and Yamato cried in worry.

"I'm okay. I just suddenly felt a burning sensation on my shoulder…"Taichi replied. Hikari's eyes went wide and she turned her brother to check on his back.

Takeru and the others were speechless as the youngest girl pulled down her brother's shirt allowing the upper part of his shoulder to be seen, carved on his skin in a brilliant, almost glowing, lines was the crest of Courage.

"Hikari… that is…." The copper haired girl began.

"Not here... Let's head back "the girl replied with a sudden shade of worry in her face "We'll explain everything…but we need to go to a safer place first. Please, follow me."


	6. Chapter 5

Here's a quite long educational chapter. I hope it won't be boring,

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DIGIMON

* * *

Chapter 5: Revelations

Saying that Takeru was dumbfounded was an understatement, and he could tell that the rest of his friends were as puzzled as he was. He'd kept his eyes on Hikari the whole way and he noticed that his friend had certainly changed. She was paler, her hair seemed to have grown a little longer and the shade of worry was all painted over her face.

Both girls didn't stop until they had reached a large building that reminded Takeru of a shrine. It was pretty familiar and it made him remember the shrine that he and Hikari usually visited. Hikari loved taking pictures of that place.

"Hikari-chan, what's this place?" Sora asked curiously. She had noticed the similitudes with the shrine

"This is where we have staying." Hikari replied"it is safe spot, so we don't have to worry"

"Safe spot?" Koushiro asked.

"Some things have been…happening in the digital world. We need to be cautious" Hikari replied with a sigh.

Hikari opened a door and invited them to pass. It was a simple Japanese room that reminded him of the rooms from the inns they had visited last summer. There was a small table and it was surrounded by a bunch of familiar digimons who were eating cheerfully.

"TAICHI!"  
"Agumon!" cried Taichi surprised when the yellow dinosaur jumped into his arms.

The same scene was repeated with the rest of the children and their partners happened, with the exception of Palmon who was visibly disappointed by Mimi's absence. Hikari who stood modestly appart patted the plant type digimon affectiously trying to ease her sadness.

"Takeru!" Patamon giggled flapping his wings happily on his arms " I knew you'll come soon! I kept telling Hikari that it was a matter of time!"

"Patamon…you… you were with Hikari all this time?"

"Yes! You should see her and Tailmon! Both of them a really cool!"

Takeru looked at Hikari. The girl smiled apologetically and he noticed a shy blush in her cheeks.

"Patamon….you're making me blush. It's not like I did all this on my own. All of you have helped me a lot."

"Hikari-chan, I'm truly glad to see you I wonder if could you explain us what's happening?" Koushiro asked once he had finished greeting Tentomon.

"I do have a lot of explaining to do, don't I?" Hikari said biting her lip " how do I even start?"

"By the beginning, of course. Sorry for my impoliteness. I'm Tachibana Ruki." She added making a polite bow "I'm a friend of Hikari-chan and this is my partner Lopmon"

The rabbit like digimon greeted them with a lazy bow and the curled itself and fell soundly asleep.

"Thank you for taking care of my sister" Taichi said making her a deep bow in gratitude.

" Oh, no no! On the contrary. She's always taking care of us "

"But I don't understand…" Taichi added looking at his sister " How? I mean…the accident. You are in the hospital….or did you?"

Hikaru shook her head and looked him sadly.

"No, only my conscience is in the Digital World. My body is still in the real world."

"But… I don't understand"

"You see….there are many ways to reach the Digital World" Ruki replied "this just happens to be one. I'm pretty much the same. My body is in a hospital in Hikarigaoka"

"You, too?" Jyou asked with wide eyes.

"Can you elaborate more?" Koushiro asked.

Hikari and Ruki shared a sad look and with a sigh told their story to all the presents. Both girls had arrived to the Digital World after suffering an accident in the Real World, however, they didn't meet until days after. Both had spent an unspecified lapsus of time floating in a semi-awake state when they heard a calling. Next thing they knew, they woke up in unknown Digital World. Hikari spent two days alone until she finally found Tailmon and later met Ruki and another kid in the same situation. They all had something in common, all of them had awoken in the Digital World after suffering an accident, and all of them were former digidestined. They had ended staying together after a lot of complications including regular attacks from those masked people among other things.

"So there is a new enemy?" Yamato asked frowning.

"Another evil digimon, you mean?" Sora added looking at Hikari.

"It's… a probable; but no exactly…"

"What do you mean, Hikari-chan?" Koushiro asked.

"The ones attacking us are human!" Tentomon said.

"Yes! They are people! They capture digimons and make them obey them!" Patamon cried " They call themselves Pacifiers!"

"It is really scary! "Biyomon cried, too. "The digimon they catch return different!"

"They use a virus to brainwash them" Ruki clarified ."

"So you're saying that the ones causing problems in the Digital World are humans? Is it something like what happened to Ken?"

"No, it is different…" Hikari whispered " They are…conscious of what they're doing; I don't doubt they probably have their reasons…however….their methods…are not quite…."

"What Hika-Hika is trying to saaaay" Lopmon said giving a jump "Is that they are craaaazy!"

"I think she meant they are quite extremists…." Tailmon corrected.

"That doesn't explain why only Hikari-chan was called here and not all of us…" Jyou commented "Not that I wanted to get hit by a car or…."

Taichi glared at the oldest boy and sighed.

Both girls looked at each other and sighed.

"We're not sure…" Ruki admitted "it seems that we are somehow special may be? To tell the truth everything has been very confusing, and with all that's been happening…well, we haven't had time to….think it. We all thought it had to do with this…"

Both girls pulled down their shawls. Hikari had, what seemed to be a sort of variation of the crest o light, tattooed on her chest. Ruki, as well, had symbol on her upper left shoulder. Taker flinched. Wasn't it just like the mark they had seen earlier on Taichi's back shoulder? Taking a look around, he realized that he wasn't the only one that had made the association.

"That…." Koushiro began.

" Taichi's…?" Yamato began.

"Yes…it seems like he was branded, too." Hikari said worried.

"Is it bad?" Sora asked.

"Not exactly, but…"

"It probably means _she_ wants him, since the brand came from you."

"She?" Koushiro asked.

"The one who called me here" Hikari replied.

"I….don't understand?" Taichi said rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh well… Hiro-kun should probably explain it better."

"Yeah. Hiro, you stalker. Stop playing and come out. We need you here" Ruki said annoying pushing open the door behind her.

"The SOS call….it was yours?" Koushiro asked.

"Hey, that was not nice…"

A black haired boy with glasses fell into the room. He was holding a silver laptop and smiled embarrassed, sitting by his side there was a Tapirmon looking apologetically.

" I told him it was bad taste to spy" Tapirmon said.

"Hiro-kun!" Hikari said surprised " You were there?"

"Like I said…stalker boy!" Ruki said rolling her eyes " You could have come out earlier! Say hi at least!"

"Eh right…Hi! I'm Seigara Hiroki, nice to meet you!" he said waving at them "Hikari talks a lot about you all. The amazing brother, Taichi right? Best friend Yamato, the trusting Sora, the always reliable Jyou, the answer all, Koushiro and the rom….bestie Takeru…."

Hikari rolled her eyes.

"You didn't hack into their personal info, did you?" Ruki asked.

"No need, we have a trustful resources right here, no? Anyway….welcome. Thank you for answering Hikari's SOS call…" the boy said making a bow.

"No….thank you. I guess you, too, have been taking care of my sister all this time." Taichi replied bowing as well.

"Nah…it was nothing. She's been taking care of us, actually. For what I heard, your brother was branded, right?"

"Yeah, with his crest. The crest of Courage." Replied Hikari "but, I don't understand. _She_ doesn't work like this…"

"Who is…she?" Jyou asked.

"Have you ever heard about the _Celestials?"_

"Celestials? What is that?" Yamato asked.

"I remember reading about it once before "Koushiro said thoughtful " The DW had three main entities that keep balance."

"Yep: Ophanim, Seraphin and Cherubin." Hiroki said counting with his fingers "The guy who programed them had a thingy for angels. Those are the code names for three maintenance programs that are supposed to be activated when the system begins to fail. Now then, this programs don't have a physical form and they require a vessel to channel them."

"Vessels?" Sora asked frowning.

"You're looking at two of them" Hiroki replied pointing at Hikari and Ruki with his head "I guess that's pretty much the reason of their unconventional way of entering the DW, too. These two here can fix glitches by overwriting the sequence code of the firewalls and they can also create new firewalls, if necessary thanks to the programs atribute."

"So you mean Hikari-chan and Tachibana-san are personifications of these programs?" Sora asked frowning.

"Yes. Ruki there is the guardian of Cherubin's Dome and Hikari here is from Ophanim's dome."

"Then you are the one for Seraphin?" asked Yamato.

"No, thanks god." Hiroki pushed away the idea " I'm just support staff. In other words I was branded by the Celestials to aid the guardians, just like Mr. Big brother there was." He added pointing at Taichi.

"Wait…what?" Tachi said speechless looking at his sister who quietly sat petting Tailmon.

" Right now we are in Ophanim's dome" she replied quietly "Cherubin's dome is to the northeast. That's were Ruki and Lopmon stays."

"You said this programs only activated if the system was failing. Does it mean the DW is collapsing?"

" We could say so. Let's see….how do I start? You know the digital world is structured in layers, right?"

"I've had my suspicion, but I was never capable to prove that hypothesis. I know there was the DW we all new, and also that dark world that Hikari-chan and Takeru- kun visited once. I guessed there had to be more than one DW then…"

"Your guesses are correct. Indeed there are more than one DW that coexists as separated worlds. Have you ever read Dante's Inferno?"

"Isn't it that book that talks about the different levels of hell?" Taichi asked casually winning everyone's surprised looks "What? I do like doing some reading every now and then."

"Well, Mr. Brother…you're absolutely correct. So using it a as an analogy, the DW is basically built in a similar structure "Hiroki began typing and suddenly an holographic image of what seemed like an inverted cone fragmented in circles appeared in the middle of the room.

"Each of the worlds are connected to each other by data flow…"As he spoke a red line began to be drawn and branched on each of the independent circles " You have probably seen this channels before, during your confrontation with Diaboromon."

"How…?" Yamato was about to ask but Koushiro stopped him.

"This channels are the paths how the data moves between each level, right?"

"That's right. This guy is fast to catch on things….I like him. The Data Flow itself is not a level but I it _is_ an important element in the DW. All the information from the text message to the transaction of a bank account moves around the network through this channels. Now…this level over here…."

The boy painted the upper and bigger circle in two shades of green: thin layer was color in a vibrant lime green and a bigger part in a darker green.

"This lighter part is the closest level to the Real World and it basically holds "fresh" information in the network. Nothing too complicated, but the data there is pretty much transitory and depending of the content it may be moved to lower levels later. Social networks, instant messages, snaps… things of that sort remain in this part. The darker part…is where we are: the DW where we can find digimon. I'm sure you probably already figured this, but digimon are some sort of application or executioner of a program, that's why they are classified in different types."

Koushiro nodded.

"Information, virus and vaccine. Yes."

"Now…. If you move lower down….the security goes heavy. Each of this different levels are separated by a walls depending on their security levels: firewalls, if you wanna look them like that. So as it goes lower down, the harder it is to have access to the data inside them. This level right here…is what you know as the Dark Ocean. It has no particular function other than to be a wasteland…"

Many of the presents tensed up at the mention of that dark world.

"Waste land?" Koushiro asked.

"Trash bin, in other words." Hiroki said simply " All those unwanted programs, glitches, corrupted data, obsolete codes…end up thrown down there. "

"So that's where all that is unwanted go…"Yamato said frowning.

"Sad right? But hey, that's how the DW work. If it's useless, it is useless…. Call it natural selection, may be?"

"What are the lowest levels?" asked Koushiro curiously.

"Those are highly encrypted files. Don't mess with those, they can get really nasty…"

"Okay, so what does that have to do with DW collapsing?" Jyou asked.

"I'm done with the educational chat so I was almost there. The virus that's being use to zombify the digimon also corrupts the codes of environment elements and causes bugs on the system. Basically the virus infects digimon and cause them to start feeding of the data from other elements creating blanks in the codes. These bugs also interact with the firewalls and as a result the different levels begin to overlap, causing distortion and data leaks. In other words, the collapse of the system."

"It also interferes with communication and that's why I couldn't contact Koushiro for a while" Tentomon said sadly "I'm sorry"

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault." Koushiro smiled at his partner "I was more worried about you, Tentomon."

" The glitches can be fixed, and that's what these two ladies over there do, however as the amount of infected increases it becomes harder to keep up the pace"

"And how exactly can you fix that?" Jyou asked " There's not like a antivirus or something?"

"Unfortunately no. The glitches are easy to fix by substituting the corrupted code for a fixed one. A simple patch. The infection, however, is harder. The programing of this virus is quite tricky. It merges with the core sequence and corrupts the main file damaging the overall program. The only way to fix it up is resetting the infected file.."

"You mean….killing them?" Sora asked horrified.

"Technically, sending them back to the town of beginnings and let them start fresh. That's what we call "Start point". However, there's a problem. If the infection reaches the "starting point" all the digimon that are reborn are automatically infected."

"That's why Hikari and the others are protecting the different towns of beginnings." Tailmon explained.

"There are more than one?" Takeru asked with a mix of surprise and worry.

"Three…" replied Hikari "We lost one of them already, but the other two are safe."

"There's a town or "Start point" for each of the celestials dominions "explained Hiroki " that's why we are doing our best protecting the remaining two by coding strong barriers on each dome. Actually we are, now, inside one."

"Hikari's barrier is quite comfy, is it not?" Biyomon chirped happily.

"Wait…what?" Tachi said speechless looking at his sister who quietly sat petting Tailmon.

"So the barrier around this area…" Koushiro asked looking at the youngest Yagami.

"It's my doing, yes. I was trying to put up a second barrier when I was attacked earlier. Things didn't go as planned and I ended up falling into the enemy's trap. If it hasn't be for you and Ruki's arrival…"

"That girl has it against you, Hikari "Ruki giggled "I wonder why…"

"It's not my fault!" Hikari replied shaking her head as her face turned a lively shade of red.

"Well…whatever…"Hiroki said dropping his shoulders "I see it's gotten dark. I know you probably have…mmm lots of questions now, but I think that's enough shock for a today. How about you rest a bit? We can talk more tomorrow"

As much as they wanted to disagree, all of them knew he was right. The amount of information they were receiving was truly overwhelming.

"I hope you don't mind staying here tonight. I believe you didn't plan to stay in DW overnight" Hikari said.

"That's fine. I don't mind staying a bit longer with you." Taichi smiled.


End file.
